


Everything That I've Ever Known

by ShipOnTheHorizon



Series: Up In Smoke [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 9-1-1 Season 3, After Buck Got Pinned, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Firefighters, First Responders - Freeform, Happy Ending, Honestly I Don't Know Where It Is, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, On a Call, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Protective Eddie Diaz, Worried Eddie Diaz, not too sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24371332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipOnTheHorizon/pseuds/ShipOnTheHorizon
Summary: He’s looking at Eddie.Is it weird that he notices the change in Eddie’s expression – moving from amusement into purefear– before he notices that the floor underneath his feet has gone?He watched as Eddie turns to grab him, arm reaching out for his own, but he’s already gone.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Up In Smoke [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759630
Comments: 13
Kudos: 396





	Everything That I've Ever Known

_9-1-1, what is your emergency?_

_Oh my god! The bridge- the bridge is collapsing!_

***

They were only a few hours into their shift when the call had come in. 

As they were in the middle of winter, it had been a quiet day, with minimal calls out so far as not many people were desperate to leave their homes. It made it easier to evacuate the bridge when they had arrived. 

As they were walking up to see what they were looking at, the manager of construction company who had been working on the bridge in the first place was telling Bobby how _something_ had happened with the _other thing_ and that somehow the water had frozen due to the low temperatures, expanded, and shifted the bridge to the point that it wasn’t structurally sound.

They hadn’t even realised there were people on the bridge when it happened, so they didn’t warn anyone.

Hen rolled her eyes at Buck behind the man and Buck tried his best not to laugh, but Bobby gave him a look so evidently, he wasn’t doing very well at hiding it.

As they reached the collapsed area of the bridge, they looked over the damage. Somehow, when the pillars cracked, they broke enough to make it unstable. It was similar to how Athena had described the damage at the bridge when the earthquake had hit LA a year ago, but on a much smaller scale as only one pillar had cracked. 

Luckily, cars had crashed trying to avoid the hole, but it seemed no one had gone over the edge.

“Diaz, can you help Chim look over anyone that has already been evacuated and check that everyone is okay? Hen, you and Buck,” he continued, glancing towards the car that was right next to edge, one wheel hanging off with what looked like an unconscious civilian inside, “need to stabilise that car that’s right next to the edge and get the civilian out as fast as possible.”

Each of them ran off in the necessary directions, with Hen and Buck grabbing the equipment and delicately moving over towards the car. Hen adds the rope to the front of the car and make sure it’s tight before giving Buck a thumbs up. Buck opens the door to the car and does a quick check-over of the patient. 

“It doesn’t feel like they’ve hurt their neck but get me a cervical collar just in case.” Hen nods and makes her way back to the medical equipment while Buck tries to figure out how to get them out with no issues.

When the collar is on, Buck shifts them, so they have their back on the seat, and shuffles them out until he has them in a bridal carry. 

Unfortunately, it’s not the safest and could result in more injury but by the looks of the truck, it’s getting closer and closer to falling so, it’s the best he could do.

Its lucky, as the second he has the patient out and passed over to Hen, the truck falls over the edge, snapping the rope as it goes.

“Good timing Buckaroo.” 

Hen sighs, moving back towards the ambulance, who then take the woman.

“Chim, shut up.”

Chim makes an overdramatic shocked face and puts his hand over his heart before pretending to faint.

Buck laughs as does Eddie who is taking care of a little girl with a head wound (who is also giggling). He’s looks over at Eddie, an identical smile on his face as they laugh at the antics of their crazy family. A family that he chose, and that chose him back. 

He’s looking at Eddie. 

Is it weird that he notices the change in Eddie’s expression – moving from amusement into pure _fear_ – before he notices that the floor underneath his feet has gone? 

He watched as Eddie turns to grab him, arm reaching out for his own, but he’s already gone.

As the concrete underneath him twists and breaks, he’s scrambling to grab onto anything on the floor that has the possibility to stop his fall and he manages to have a faint grip on a rope that was on the floor before the rest of it breaks, taking him with it. 

When you think about falling, you think about the possibility of the landing and how much it is going to hurt. You don’t think about the wind that whips hair into your face, or how _cold_ you feel as you drop towards a floor that’s getting closer and closer and _closer_ \--

_**Snap** _

Whatever he managed to grab onto before he dropped reaches its tether, stopping him with such a force it feels like his arm is trying to come out of his own shoulder.

He feels like he should be screaming at the amount of the pain that is spreading out from his shoulder but he is shocked and scared and wary of the fact that the rope – at least that’s what he thinks he has – could snap at any point with the amount of force he just put on it.

The rope is swinging him from side to side and he grips it as tight as he possible can; he desperately tries to hold on, but he is in pain and sweaty and in _pain_. He tries to think of the people above him, and grips tighter, trying to pull himself up enough to-

It turns out it wasn’t his choice anyway.

The rope snaps, and he drops.

It feels more like a free fall with nothing to hold on to, like nothing he could do will reduce how much to landing will hurt. 

He hits the floor, and everything goes black.

He can’t be out for more than a few seconds, because when he opens his eyes, the debris around him is still shifting. He can feel a piece of rebar digging into his hip and he takes a moment to thank _God_ that he didn’t land on it and make this any harder.

He tries to look around, but the pieces of the bridge they were trying to empty of citizens in the first place have surrounded him, leaving him in a small bubble – luckily he doesn’t feel like anything is actually on him, but it has reduced his mobility enough to make it difficult to sit up.

It turns out he couldn’t have done that anyway, as when he moves to lean up he suddenly remembers that he did something to his arm – it could be broken but he can barely think enough to look, let alone examine it – as pain comes shooting down from his shoulder leaving him to collapse back on his back.

He takes a minute to breathe through the pain, and although it’s not the worst pain he has ever felt in his life – nothing really beats being crushed by an entire truck – it doesn’t leave him in a good place.

It’s during these few moments, silence only broken by his own harsh breathing, that Buck notices his radio is going off with various different voices he recognises as his team.

Mostly, they’re all yelling his name with various tones of urgency, but he can hear Bobby – forever the Captain – asking calmly whether he is okay, and where he is. It’s only because he knows him so well that he can hear the fear in his voice. He can’t hear Eddie at all.

He tries moving his unhurt arm enough to press to button to activate his own radio but finds it in such a position that he can’t move it at all, with all the concrete surrounding it.

He looks to his other side and deigns that he is going to have to move as much as he can into the other side of his ‘bubble’ to even have a chance of moving it, so he shuffles over, moving his other arm as minimal as possible.

He takes another few moments to breathe, before trying to move his arm again – luckily, he can get it out of whatever tangle it was in and presses the button down. For a moment, all he can do is breathe, but that’s all they need.

“Buck?”

He coughs in reply and hears the sigh of relief his whole team gives at the sound. He briefly hears Chim talking to someone else but can’t hear clearly what was said or who he was speaking too, although he makes an assumption when Eddie comes on the radio next.

“Buck?”

He takes a breath and manages to say a quick “Hey,” even if it was the most pathetic sounding ‘hey’ he has – and hopefully will have – ever said.

“ _OhthankGodyou’reokay_.” he says, quickly, “I thought- oh my God. I thought-”

Buck coughs, and it sounds wet, “I’m okay Ed. Well,” he coughs again, “maybe not okay, but I’m alive.”

Eddie doesn’t reply, but Chim’s voice comes through next. “Buck, can you describe any of your injuries to me? You don’t sound great.”

“Yeah, yeah. Um,” he looks down, “Left arm hurts a lot, I think I did something to it as I- as I fell? My chest hurts a bit too, and I must’ve hit my head because I was knocked out as I, well, as I landed.”

“Is your head bleeding?” Chim replied, he could hear people muttering in the background.

“I can’t really move enough to tell, but it definitely hurts.”

“Okay, you’re doing really good Buck.” That was Bobby, “We’re trying to figure out a way to get to you. Is there anything else you can tell us about where you are?”

Buck had worked with, not only Bobby but, first responders enough that he was trying to keep Buck from panicking and hurting himself further, but he felt weirdly lethargic about the situation.

“I don’t think I’m very deep. It’s really bright.”

“Okay Buck, that’s really good. It shouldn’t take long to get to you.”

“Hm, that’s good – I’m feeling a bit sleepy Cap.”

He hears Cap swear over the radio – which _almost_ surprises him enough to stay awake because Cap _never_ swears – before Eddie’s voice reappears.

“Hey Buck.”

“Hey Eddie.”

Eddie sounds worried, and Buck shuffles a little trying to lessen his concern, but it makes his shoulder hit the rock and he makes a pained sound.

“Come on Buck, talk to me.”

Buck breaths through the pain, “That certainly woke me up a bit.”

He hears Eddie laugh, but it’s not the same laugh he usually gets from Eddie. It sounds worried and bad, and he definitely likes his other laugh better. The laugh where he sounds fond, and so _so_ beautiful.

“That’s nice of you Buck, but you’re the beautiful one.”

Buck would cringe at himself if he had the energy. “Said that out loud, huh?”

He can practically see Eddie’s smile, “Yeah man, yeah you did.”

He doesn’t reply, as he starts to feel heavy; his arm falls away from the button of the radio, resting on his chest, and he knows he worries Eddie as he doesn’t reply but he can’t think. Can’t move.

“ _Buck!_ ”

Buck’s eyes open as Eddie’s voice comes through the radio, louder and more urgent than he has ever heard it. He hears sounds above him, from outside his bubble and knows that people are getting closer and closer to where he his.

“Buck, you have to stay awake, okay? Even if you can’t reply.”

He – barely – nods, replying even if Eddie can’t see him, and tries his hardest to keep his eyes open. He knows that he needs to stay awake, but he feels like sleeping is the best idea in the _world_ right now.

“Do you remember yesterday Buck?” 

Buck makes a sound, _of course_ he remembers yesterday. As if he could forget. 

Forget the moment that Eddie shyly walked over immediately after their shift ended and they had changed – and Eddie was never shy – and asked whether he wanted to go out to dinner, just the two of them, and discuss the thing they were both too stupid or busy or _scared_ to talk about. 

Forget the smile on his face the second that Buck nodded his assent, his assent to not only the date but hopefully the rest of their lives.

Forget the moment that Buck truly realised that he was loved in the same way that he loved, by the person he had been hoping to be with for much longer than he, himself, had known.

“You have to stay awake for that Buck. Stay awake for the date, and everything that comes after okay? Stay awake for Christopher, and for Maddie, and for your team, and for me. Please, baby, please just _stay awake for me._ ” Eddie keeps talking, random things that Buck can barely take in, so he tries.

Buck tries. He really, really tries. He thinks about Chris, and Eddie, and how he can’t leave his sister alone in a world that has hurt her so badly. He thinks about how he has survived worse than this, and he thinks about how he is a _Buckley_ and how they can survive anything they try to.

He keeps trying, until the final piece of concrete is moved, and he hears yelling and Bobby is telling him that he will be okay.

He stops trying.

***

The first time he wakes, Eddie is passed out in the chair – that position can’t be _comfortable_ \- next to him and Maddie is standing beside his bed, pacing back and forth, eyed red.

She notices he’s awake and is practically running out the room yelling for a nurse, but by the time she gets back, he has already passed out.

The second time he wakes, Eddie is still at his side, but awake this time, and Maddie is nowhere to be seen. He sees him say something, hands coming up to brush his face, but he can’t hear a thing.

He leans into the hand at his cheek and passes out again.

The third time he wakes, he feels _clear_ in a way he didn’t before. He can think and hear and see.

And he sees Eddie, in the same chair that he has been in every other time. 

He doesn’t want to imagine that Eddie had been at his bedside the whole time, especially with Chris to take care of, but by the state of his clothes and his hair – and honestly, he stinks – he knows he definitely has been.

His hand is gripped tightly, even in sleep, by Eddie’s own and Buck moves, trying to indicate to Eddie that he is awake. His hand jostles Eddie’s, enough for him to notice and wake up but not to wake up _fully_.

“Stop moving, I’m trying to sleep.”

And then he realises. His eyes shoot open, and he jumps up onto his feet. He must still be half asleep as he stumbles a bit as he stands, “Buck!”

Buck winces at the volume but doesn’t argue as Eddie tries to hug him, as much as he can while he’s immobile and in a hospital bed. 

“I didn’t- I need to get Maddie! And the doctor, I’m going to go get-“

Buck pulls on the hand that is still tightly gripped by Eddie’s and Eddie stops talking instantly. Buck raises an eyebrow at him, and Eddie seems to just break, like he was a puppet and his strings were cut, he collapses against the side of the hospital bed and – as much as he could – buries his head into Buck’s chest. He can’t hear him crying, but by the shake of his shoulders, he knows he is.

Buck just puts his hand into his hair and strokes, waiting for him to calm down a bit, before pulling Eddie up. His face is wet, and he stinks, but Buck doesn’t hesitate in pulling him forward into him and pressing their lips together.

Eddie responds instantly, pushing himself forward and kissing Buck back with a desperation that makes Buck realise how hurt he must have been, and how panicked Eddie must have been to have almost missed his chance. To have almost missed out on what _could have been_.

He continues to run his fingers through Eddie’s hair as they kiss, deeply and unconcerned about the world around them. He tastes relief, and the final ounce of fear that Eddie was holding onto seeps out of him as they kiss. 

They only separate when a new voice appears, “Well then, I guess you are okay.”

Eddie pulls back, and although he turns bright red, he doesn’t resist giving Buck another brief kiss before he actually moves off the bed. 

Buck just smiles at his sister, who is standing at the door to his room with two coffees. She hands one over to Eddie who takes it with a relieved smile, although he remains tinted red. 

“Hey Maddie.” He says, or tries to say, as his voice comes out a broken whisper. Eddie gives him a cup of ice and he takes it with a small smile and a touch to his wrist in thanks. Eddie smiles back before turning back to Maddie who is looking at them fondly. 

Eddie doesn’t blush again, but he does say, “I’ll go get the others” before leaving the Buckley siblings alone, likely escaping.

Maddie rolls her eyes at his back and Buck laughs, his throat relaxing as he has more ice. 

She turns back towards him and sits in the seat that Eddie vacated before turning serious, “How’re you feeling?”

Buck shrugs, jostling a shoulder and hissing, “Great, apparently.”

Maddie looks at him for a moment before taking his hand, “The doctors said you had dislocated your arm, so that’s why it hurts.”

Buck nods, “Yeah, I grabbed something, and it basically yanked my arm out of its socket.”

“A rope, the one you used to secure the truck before, and it almost _did_ Buck. The muscle was torn so badly they weren’t sure whether you would ever be able to use your arm again!” Maddie started to look like she was going to cry and Buck could handle many things, but certainly not his sister’s tears. 

“I know, I’m sorr-“

“Don’t you dare apologise Evan Buckley – for once, this wasn’t you running into danger.”

The two went silent for a minute, hands grasped tightly together, only interrupted when the doctor came strolling in.

“Evan, good to see you awake.” 

Buck smiled at Eddie who walked in behind him, followed by Bobby.

“Thanks Doc.”

The doctor smiled at him before picking up his chart off the edge of the bed, “Okay, let’s talk about your injuries. You dislocated your arm pretty badly, and tore a few muscles in the process,” Buck opened him mouth to ask a question, but he didn’t stop,” and you will be fine to go back to work after a few weeks of PT." 

Buck sighed in relief. It was nice to know that it wouldn't be too long before he was back and working. The doctor smiled at him knowingly, and then continued.

"You broke a rib on the landing, and bruised a few more but, by now, you know how to deal with that. No excessive movement, be careful on shift, and if you feel any pain, come back. The rib pressed into your lung and then pierced it, this was why you passed out. The only other injury was your head, but you only had a very mild concussion so we’re going to keep you another night and then you are free to go. As long as you make sure you come back if you feel any pain, you will be fine.”

Buck smiled, knowing he should be back to work in less than a month, and thankfully he wasn’t hurt too badly. Maddie squeezed his hand before rising, following the doctor out the door – likely going to hound him with questions about what would be needed for a swift recovery – leaving him with Bobby and Eddie.

“Glad to see you are okay, son.” Bobby says, coming over and running his hand through his hair before leaving too.

Eddie moves back over to his chair and, noticing how Buck’s eyes were drifting closed, says “Feel free to sleep, Buck. I’ll still be here.”

Buck was tempted to say how he should go have a shower, at least, but he barely had the energy.

He slept.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *has a book half written and a plan for many more chapters*
> 
> Also me: *finds a new ship and decides that I must write about them before the canon show makes me sad and ignore my other half written books*


End file.
